Heartless
by 100 Silver Wings
Summary: Well, there's really no other way to say this, but...  ONESHOT


_More Bubbline? Naturally. Even if it is pitifully short. One day, something with multiple chapters and other such nonsense could happen...but for now, enjoy an angsty oneshot with only one line of dialogue...and that could also stand to be given a proper ending...pfft..._

_Set after What Was Missing, naturally. _

_Disclaimer: I have some spifftacular purple nail polish and am almost functional brain, but not Adventuretime. Pity. _

It was painful how well they knew each other.

They hadn't needed to say a thing. "We need to talk." That sounds so bad anyways. Words hadn't been needed. Just a glance over the shoulders of the boys, which Finn had thankfully missed. Jake probably had as well, but he didn't need to see it to know that the two were going to have a talk, soon. A reconciliation of sorts. Or it _would_ be a reconciliation.

If either of them worked up the courage to say a word.

In the Quatrafical Caverns of the Ice Kingdom—because Marceline abhorred the notion of being found out, and so reverted to the only place she knew that everybody else was too alive to wander into—they stood awkwardly. Marceline could feel the cold, but not the negative connotations it brought to most; she hadn't been able to care one way or the other about cold for a long time. Living forever had really strengthened her immunity against feeling, and not just temperatures sometimes. Like now.

Bubblegum—or Bonnibelle, as Marceline would have called her if they could talk, or were remotely comfortable around each other—hugged herself tightly. Her jacket and dress did nothing against the temperatures. Her breath crystallized in front of her face, but what she noticed more than that was how the air around Marceline was perfectly clear, devoid of frost clouds. She still didn't breathe; Bubblegum could remember the days when she had gotten Marceline to breathe, which, for a vampire, is even a greater accomplish than taking somebody's breath away.

Awkwardly, Marceline floated over to Bubblegum, pondering a hug. They both blanched a little when they touched; both had forgotten that Marceline hadn't any body heat to speak of. If anything, contact would make things worse.

They retreated to different corners of the cave they were in. It was an ice cave, with slushy seawater ponds dotting the floor and moonlight filtering in through the opaque ice walls. The shadows were some of the oddest ever, languid and pale, stretching across any surface they could get to. They brought out different people than the two women usually were.

Bubblegum shifted her weight from hip to hip, twisted her hands. She felt uncomfortable in the cave, she felt uncomfortable in the night. She was remembering the last time the two of them had been in these caves, alone, at night, and somehow chilled to the bone. At least that time they were both smiling, or sometimes laughing, and appreciating the sound that laughter had after echoing off of the ice. It had been summer, the last time, and even then the cave leeched any warmth from the otherwise muggy night. Last time, the funny shadows had made her beautiful. Now they just hid things.

The shirt, _the _shirt, was still on her, over her jacket and dress. It felt like a straightjacket on her, even if it was too big. She twisted the hem between her fingers, wrinkling it. Now, it smelled like sweets. When she'd first received it, it smelled like Marceline. Whatever that unique scent was, it had left a long time ago and had been replaced by her signature candy smell. She hadn't noticed that until now, though, since she was surrounded by all manner of cold things. Sweetness stands out in such environments.

Marceline floated around the cave, trying to speak. She wanted Bubblegum's perspective of what, precisely, had happened to them. Had there ever even been a 'them'? It wasn't like the Candy Kingdom had ever had two Queens. Only ever a blushing Princess who was too shy to ever really commit to anything other than her science. Marceline scowled at the thought of science now. The word left a sour memory in her mouth.

She floated closer and closer gradually, like a shark. Sharks as she had seen as a child had been dead for a thousand years though, now replaced by the bigger, scarier evolution that didn't waste time stalking prey. The princess wouldn't get the comparison. Regardless, she closed the gap at her own pace, a slow pace, until she could smell Bubblegum's perpetually sweet breath.

Quite quickly, kissing Bubblegum sounded like a good idea. They hadn't done that for a long time. She moved around a bit, got closer, so she could see her reflection in those pink eyes. That was the only place she'd ever seen her reflection, actually; mirrors had never agreed with her.

Her mouth opened a bit, and Bubblegum recoiled, shaking her head. Marceline rocked back, crossed her legs under her in the air, then swooped in for a quick, chaste kiss on the corner of her mouth.

"I think I might still love you." Bubblegum finally spoke.

Marceline had a lot of things to say. She always had, always did. Just not to something like that.


End file.
